The history of the foundry goes back to 1840, when James and H. Andrew Baggs founded the Baggs Foundry in Ohio County, Virginia, at 2011 Main Street. In 1855, John Young and two brothers, Alexander and Charles Cecil, purchased the company and renamed it Cecil Foundry, and in 1860, they changed the name to Centre Foundry. In 1881, it became the first incorporated business in the county. Business flourished while manufacturing nail machines for the steel industry as well as repair parts for steamboats, and by 1923, they had outgrown their facilities and relocated to Warwood. The foundry has stood at its present location since 1923 and continues to produce iron castings for the Ohio Valley.
These two Tudor Revival-style houses were built in 1914 and designated for the six appointed lockmasters for the Ohio River Lock & Dam #12. The dam, located near the houses, was completed in 1916 and stood until 1975. Its replacement, the Pike Island Lock & Dam, was completed in 1963 and is located just north of Warwood.
The Lasch House stands tall representing one of the earliest families in Warwood. Conrad Lasch, a Wheeling Island resident, was born in 1857 to German-born parents, Jacob Lasch Sr. and Katrine Lasch. He bought land in Glenova (now Warwood) from his brother, Jacob Lasch Jr., on March 6, 1894. His property ran from “the hilltop” to the Ohio River, and from what is now 6th Street to 8th Street. Conrad Lasch and his wife, Julia Klebe Lasch, built their home and raised their eight children at what is now 603 Warwood Avenue. His land west of Warwood Avenue was used for farming, while the rest was used for pastures. His son, Albert Lasch, was a notable florist in Warwood and ran his business on the property from 1907 to 1973.
In 1927, Raymond V. Thalman and Lawrence Schmitt partnered and began a business of rewinding armatures for the coal mines in the region. They set up shop at the garage in the back of Thalman’s home at 431 Hazlett Avenue. By 1932, they expanded their business to 128 N. 7th Street. As the company flourished, they erected their sales division building at 623 River Rd. in 1969.
Archibald Woods Paull founded the company on Water Street as the Nail City Lantern Company in 1877. The company initially manufactured double globe lanterns in a four story brick factory in downtown Wheeling. When Archibald Woods Paull II took over in 1897, he renamed the company as the “Wheeling Stamping Company” and shifted to kerosene lanterns and lamp burners. In 1957, Wheeling Stamping Company moved to its present location in Warwood.
Built in 1918, this beautiful, stately red brick house belonged to one of the first families in Warwood. In 1864, Casper and George Dorsch purchased 130 acres in Warwood that extended from the top of the hill, to the Ohio River, to 13th Street, to the alley between 10th and 11th Street. They farmed the land until it was turned into city lots. Casper’s palatial white brick house, built around the same time, stood next door until 1969, when it was razed and replaced with the Garden Park Terrace apartments the following year. These two homes were “the first show places of grandeur in Warwood”. Each home was constructed to compliment the beauty of the land, with the tree-covered hill as its backdrop.
Several years after annexing Warwood, Wheeling city officials sought to further integrate the neighborhood and obtain a higher quality water. According to a Wheeling News-Register article from 1935, Warwood was listed as a town with the purest water in the country. So in 1925, the water works treatment plant was relocated from River Road to Warwood. The Art Deco filtration plant and pumping station (pictured) were designed by Pittsburgh’s J.N. Chester Engineers. The filtration plant is slated for demolition in 2017.
The park’s name is anything but generic: it is actually named after the Garden family, one of the earliest families in Warwood. David Garden came to the region from Scotland in 1816 and built his farmhouse near Glenn’s Run. He established a tannery in North Wheeling with his son, Alexander. By David’s death in 1886, the Garden family owned the majority of the land in the region. By the early 1900s, much of the land was sold off to the Warwood Land Company for development, but the City of Wheeling purchased this plot from the family in 1927 specifically for a park.
The church was completed in 1923. It was designed by renowned Pittsburgh architect Edward Weber, who also built the Cathedral of St. Joseph in East Wheeling and the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bluefield. A Wheeling News-Register article from 1924 states, “The simple beauty of the Church exterior is achieved by the strict adherence to the old Lombardic type of architecture.” The Corpus Christi School at 1506 Warwood Avenue was built the same year as the church, while the rectory at 1512 Warwood Avenue was built in the Colonial Revival style in 1920. The Corpus Christi Parish Center across the street was the former site of Town and Country Dairy.
The church was originally built for the Warwood Evangelical Lutheran Church congregation, who had previously met at the Center Warwood School (now Warwood Town Centre) next door beginning in 1913. The Lutheran church closed in 1998, and the Warwood Presbyterian Church moved here shortly after. This church was completed in 1917 for about $18,000. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style by West Virginia architect George Ebeling. The church boasts a large, beautiful Gethsemane window, which was donated by Carl Eberts, a notable banker at the (now defunct) Bank of Warwood.
The Neo-Classical fire station was built in 1923 by local architect Millard Fillmore Giesey and builder John W. Ray, at a cost of $15,445. It has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1995. On May 23, 1923, R.J. McCullagh of the Warwood Land Company dedicated the fire station at its grand opening; there were reportedly over 6,000 attendees at the parade and ceremony. Today it is home to Fitzsimmons Law Offices.
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the Richland District High School opened its doors in 1918. The name changed to Warwood High School in 1920. In 1975, Wheeling consolidated the city’s high schools which led to the closure of Warwood High School. The building is now used for office and retail space.
The Home for Men is the last building designed by Frederick Faris, the “dean of Wheeling architects”. In fact, Faris died two years before the building’s construction was completed. John M. Brown of the Warwood Land Company left $150,000 in his will for its construction. It was completed in 1929 at the cost of $105,000. Requirements for prospective tenants at the time were that they had to be men, 65 years of age or older, Protestant, and of some value to the community.
The oldest standing church in Warwood was built in 1909. Many Warwood residents gathered to build or donate materials for the church, but much of the work was done by John L. Giesey, the brother of architect Millard Fillmore Giesey and a contractor in Wheeling. The bell in front was once used at the original Warwood Tool Company location in Martins Ferry to call men in to work. It was donated to the church during its construction.
To prepare for the factory’s relocation, the Warwood Tool Company built several company homes in 1904 on N. 18th Street and N. 19th Street, including this one. The first person to live in this Dutch Colonial Revival-style house was John A. Moore, who was the secretary (and later manager) of the company. Two additional houses were built for J.W. Bumgartner, the company’s superintendent, and Fred Reese, the manager of the forge shop; the last house was built as a company office.
Although Warwood’s story and namesake begins here, Henry Warwood retired in 1892 and never oversaw the factory’s relocation to West Virginia. It was not until 1907, under the ownership of Walker Peterson, that the Warwood Tool Company moved to its current location. Before the construction of the current facility, the site was home to the Eberts family, one of the earliest families in Warwood. Using traditional heating and forging processes, the Warwood Tool Company produces the same heavy duty tools today as they did in 1907, which are finished with their signature “Warwood Blue” handle.
The Queen Anne home was constructed in 1906 by Wheeling architect Joseph Leiner for Charles H. Dowler and his family. Dowler was a prominent figure in Warwood, having served as an owner of the Warwood Land Company, the second mayor of Warwood, city manager, and the second CEO for the First Bank of Warwood. The home features eighteen rooms, a four-story turret, interior oak detailing, a 500 square-foot wrap around veranda with two porches, forty-six windows, and a 1 ½-story carriage house. The maple tree and four sycamores were planted on the property in 1907 and protect the house from heat and cold. The retaining wall was built in 1928 when the city widened Warwood Avenue for two lane traffic. This is a private home and not open to the general public.
This Queen Anne house was the childhood home for Eleanor Steber, a world-renowned opera singer at the Metropolitan Opera. Born in 1914 on 33rd and Eoff Street, her family moved to Warwood when her father, William Steber, became president at the Bank of Warwood. After graduating from Warwood High School and Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, she starred at the Met in New York City. As a soprano, she gave over 400 performances, including 50 lead roles, over 22 years. She died in 1990 and is buried at Wheeling’s Greenwood Cemetery.
Super Bowl V MVP Chuck Howley grew up right here in Warwood! He was born in 1936 and lived at this beautiful Colonial Revival home. Howley garnered national attention as a linebacker for the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys, but he began his football career at Warwood High School and West Virginia University. He remains the only athlete in WVU history to letter in five sports and the only player awarded the Super Bowl MVP from the losing team.
Theodore Gabriel Cupp started the T.G. Cupp Company, a roofing & metal business, in Warwood around 1917. In 1922, after his son Edwin entered the business, he renamed the company as T.G. Cupp & Sons. He and his wife lived at 2508 Vance Avenue, while his son lived next door at 2506 Vance Avenue. Before the company relocated to 55 N. 28th Street, they spent several decades at this facility, formerly the site of the Montiegel Dye Works building.
In 1908, the company was founded as the “Warwood Express” by Wiley Wayne Kenamond. He set up shop at the rear of the office at 133 N. 21st St., with a wagon shed and stables at the corner of N. 22nd St. and Richland Ave. Using horse drawn wagons or sleds, he began his business hauling household goods, furnishing horses, and teamster drivers to the U.S. government engineers who were building the Ohio River Lock & Dam #12 in Warwood. He also transported supplies to the oil wells in Warwood.
Warwood’s earliest recorded history begins here: in October 1770, George Washington records in his diary that he encamped at “the lower point of some Islands which stand contiguous to each other”, which historians recognize as this island; after traveling further down the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, he returned to the island again the following month. Before 1905, there had been a café and dancing pavilion on the island. An amusement park was completed in 1905 by the Wheeling Amusement Company at a cost of $20,000. Over 6,000 people came to the island for its grand opening on June 10. Coney Island featured a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, a stadium that fit 2500 patrons, a German beer garden, camel rides, Vaudeville shows, and much more. The amusement park was abandoned in 1907 after a history of floods.
This factory has changed hands several times, but it has consistently provided employment for greater Warwood residents. In 1930, the Wheeling Steel Company expanded to Warwood and built the Ackermann plant, where they built pressed steel stampings and innovative steel shipping containers known as “band boxes”. From 1964 to 1986, Blaw-Knox used the facility as an iron roll foundry. Since 1990, the Bethlehem Gear & Machine Company (of the Mull Group) has produced a variety of gears.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
Get a QR Code for this tour
This is a virtual walking tour includes 23 of Warwood's most historic sites. It features residences, businesses, churches, schools, and even an island. A brochure of the walking tour is available at the Wheeling Convention and Visitor's Bureau and the Wheeling Artisan Center.
